Lining for earth constructions



Nov. 17, 1953 E. s'rENGEL ErAL 2,659,210-

LINING FOR EARTH coNsTRucTroNs Filed Jan. lO, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l ffg 7 /frf f l f l l H I l ..2 I A 5 E 7 r i I Y 9^ NOV 17, 1953 E. sTENGEL Erm.

LINING F'R EARTH CONSTRUCTIONS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. lO

Patented Nov. 17, `1951i LINING FOR EARTH CONSTRUCTION S' Erwin Stengel. and Gnther Klotz, Karlsruhe, Germany Application-January'l, 1950, Serial No.'137,682"

Claims priority, application Germany January 24,:1'949 The vpresent 'invention relates .to a 'liningjfor earthlcon'structions and 'to a V:method 'for making furrowsbymeans of 'such' linings.. which'are suitable 'foria'ying pipe lines,.cables.and 'the like.

It'is an object of 'the'p'resent 'invention to provide' a'zliningfwhich' does not consume a great amount of material.

It is another objectof the presentinvention to reduce the 'wear 'and tear ofthe lining;

It -is 'a'further' object of :the present invention' to `reduce 'appreciably 'the lab'er carrying out earth'ponstructions of Ythe 'kind' described.'

It is'another'object of 'the present'invention to allow a mechanical 'excavation of the earth The'invention' comprises in combination a 'body' having' side walls and"open"upper 'and' lower ends, and two apertures arranged oppcsitely to each other-adjoining `the lower-'ends ofthe Aside walls. The bodycan'be metallic and rectangular in cross section. Preferably theapertures 'can be closed.

In* apreferredembod-iment --of the present invention-"containersfor-'receivingV a load are arranged'lat theopen upper end of the body.

APreferably the ybody has double walls andk is tapered near its 1ower'-'end;

The'invention consists also in a method for making "a furrow comprising -the steps of Ulowering' into thegrounda first lining having two opposite apertures adjoining thelower edgeV of the first-dining,- and lowering into 'the ground a second lining having twoopposite apertures adjoining-'the lower-edge ofthe second lining, ther linings being Y separated by 'adistance apart i and having their apertures arranged in alignment with? one another.

APreferably a thirdlining `is lowered' into theground 'having two opposite apertures adjoining the lower ends ofthe lining. Preferably the rearth isffexcavated betweenthe apertures of the linings and v'an appliance such asa .pipeline or cable i'svlaid' under' the lower part of the linings and in they excavations.'

.Ina lpreferred method according to the invention, the first lining is withdrawn from the ground.

afterf'thelowering of the second lining and lowered into the ground once'more at theopposite sideof i the.' second lining.

Obviously by the new method according to this invention a. considerable saving of material and laboris accomplished.: The bodies do not need any drivinglinto` the earth. The digging work is considerably reduced since the linings can be introduced into .the earth atdistances upto -one meter apart, an excavation. `of the earth being required vonly within the linings and between thenapertures. This work can be donev almost entirely mechanically.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended' claims. The invention itself, however, both-aste its construcadditional lobjects and .advantages thereof, will behest understood from the following description of specific fembodiments when read in. connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which;

Fig. 1 is a. sectional elevation through a lining according .to the .present .invention and. the sur.- rounding earth;

Fig. 2 is a pla-aview of theliningshown. in Fig. .1;

Fig. 3 shows in sectional elevation a practical application of the lining shown., in Fig. 1;.

Fig. 4 isa section along the .line 4-4 of :Fig .3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation .of .anotherstage of the method of the present. invention;

Fig. VG is a cross section alongA 5?.-5 of .Fig- 5; and

Fig` 'Tis a plan view ofthearrangement shown in Fig. 5. Y

Referring now to the drawings 4.andiirstto Fig. l, a lining I3 is shown having a body.2jlow ered into the ground I. The body 2.1'sv openatlits upper and lower ends I4 and I5 and has double walls preferablyA consisting of sheets made of steel provided with .intermediate reinforcements i2' consisting of iron barsor .the like. Thebody 2 has preferably a rectangularcross section with'` wide and narrow sides I 6 and I'I as shown in Fig.v 2. The loweriportion 3 ofthe body 2 is tapered in'order to facilitate the lowering` of the Ylining I3 Ainto the ground I.. Apertures 4 'are provided adjoining vthe lower edge I5 of the narrow sideV walls I'I 'of the body 2; the apertures .4 being larranged opposite to each other. and beingprovided with .means (not shown) .for closingthem vsuch as trap doors or sliding'doors.

` ing lowered into the ground I even to greater depth. If desired the body 2 has a single wall in the part adjoining the containersY 6-8. At the inner side of the walls I8 of the containers are provided openings (not shown) which can be. closed vby means of sliding doors (not shown' and 'serve for emptying the containers .into f.the furrows 'after the bodies 2f have reachedtheir. lowermost position.` A pipe-Bisshownin Fig.. 1 which is laid :at the bottom .of-.the furrow.v4

Figs. 3 to '7 show the practicaly application tof thelining shown Vin Figs.A 1 andv2. A-B'(Fig. 7) indicates the central plane oi the furrow. The bodies arev denoted in Figs. 3 to-7 with I, II, andi III, and theyv define one phase-ofthe-con-struc'- tion. According to Fig.' 5 they are all lowered into theground' I. In .orderrto do that, they. a-re arranged with their. planesof symmetry coinciding with the central :planeof .the furrow, for' instancebyfmeans Yofaf hoist or crane :(not shown) 3 so that they are arranged at a distance I apart which may amount to up to 1 meter.

Fig, 4 shows a cross section of the lining I and shows the position of the apertures 4 which are arranged in the narrow side l1 of the rectangular cross section of the bodies 2. The cross section is so chosen that the earth can be easily removed from the interior of the linings by means of an excavator after the lining has been placed on the ground as shown for lining III in Fig. 3. The lining sinks automatically down into the ground according to the progress of the excavation. When an appreciable depth is reached, the weight of the lining is counteracted by the friction against the earth surrounding the lining. In order to overcome-the friction the weight of the lining is increased by iilling the containers 5-8 with earth or sand.

Finally the linings have the position shown in Fig. 5 in full lines in which the earth is excavated between the apertures 4 underneath the separating sections I8 of the ground and the pipe line 9 or cable is laid. If this laying of the pipe line has progressed as far as shown in Fig. 5, the first lining I is withdrawn and placed on top of the ground l, as shown in 1Eig. 5 by dotted lines, and lowered again. Thus it will be seen that while the work for laying the pipe line in sections II and III is progressing, the lining I is once more lowered into the ground. When the pipe line 8 reaches the space underneath the lining III the lining II can be withdrawn and lowered once more in front of the lining I. Thus, it will be seen that in this way an almost uninterrupted operation for laying the pipe line 9 is accomplished.

If the depth of the furrow under construction is great the lining is preferably made in two parts of which the lower part with the apertures 4 is lowered into the ground and then prolonged by the upper part provided with the containers 5 8. The parts are joined and further lowered together.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also nd a useful application in other types of linings for earth constructions differing from the types described above.

While I have illustrated and described the invention as embodied in linings for making a furrow, I do not intend to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of my invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of my invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specic aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A lining for earth construction comprising, in combination, an elongated tubular casing of rectangular cross section having opposite open top and bottom ends being made of metal and being formed with a pair of opposite out outs located in two opposite sides thereof and extending inwardly from the edges of said sides at said open bottom end of said tube.

2. A lining for earth construction comprising,

in combination, an elongated tubular casing of rectangular cross section having opposite open top and bottom ends being made of metal and being formed with a pair of opposite cut outs located in two opposite sides thereof and extending inwardly from the edges of said sides at said open bottom end of said tube; and a plurality of open-top chambers located at said top end of said casing on the outside thereof for receiving material to provide a weight on said tube.

3. Construction apparatus consisting of an elongated tubular casing of rectangular cross section, having opposite open top and bottom ends, being made of metal and being formed with a pair of cutouts located opposite to each other and extending inwardly from an edge of said casing at said bottom end thereof, said casing having a diminishing thickness in the region of said edge, said thickness diminishing toward said edge so that the latter is of a lesser thickness than the remainder of said casing.

4. Construction apparatus consisting of an elongated tubular casing ofv rectangular cross section having opposite open top and bottom ends and being formed with a pair of cutouts located opposite to each other and extending inwardly from an edge oi said casing at said bottom end thereof, said casing having the walls thereof made of metal sheets which are spaced from each other.

5. A process for continuously laying elongated sections of pipes, cables, or the like beneath the ground surface, comprising the steps of arrang- 35' ing a plurality of elongated tubular casings, having opposite cut-outs extending inwardly from one of the ends thereof, successively in a lseries along a predetermined path in spaced relation to each other with said one end of said casings contacting the ground and with all of said cutouts aligned with each other along said path; successively sinking said series of casings, from the first casing of the series to the last casing of the series, into the ground; excavating the interior of the iirst sunk casings of the series; forming in the ground a passage extending through adjacent cut-outs of the first and second casings of the series; laying in the thus formed passage an elongated section extending from said iirst to said second casing through said passage in the ground; removing said rst casing from the ground and locating it at the end of the series so that said iirst casing becomes a new last casing of the series and so that said second casing becomes a new iirst casing of the series; and repeating with each thus newly formed first casing of the series the operations performed with the original iirst casing of the series so as to continuously set the elongated sections into the ground.

EQWIN STENGEL.

GNTHER KLOTZ.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 436,914 Fischer Sept. 23, 1890 1,287,781v Steenrod Dec. 17, 1918 1,658,253 Powell Feb. 7, 1928 2,065,003 Widugier Dec. 22, 1936 2,096,331 Livingstone Oct. 19, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 363,183 Germany of 1922 

